ALBANY -- Will there be a "November surprise" now that Gov. David Paterson has called lawmakers back to session at the end of the month?

It's unlikely the Monday, Nov. 29, session -- announced by the governor Wednesday -- will result in anything more dramatic than pro forma legislative action. But if the day gets interesting, it wouldn't be the first time something unexpected or momentous was pushed through between Election Day and the new year.

In 1998, the newly re-elected Gov. George Pataki got lawmakers to agree to allow charter schools in exchange for a pay raise during a late December session.

And during the Thanksgiving break in 1994, former Republican Sen. Joseph L. Bruno of Brunswick orchestrated a coup in which he lined up support to take the top job of majority leader from Ralph Marino of Long Island once lawmakers came back in January.

Of course, in those years there were no questions about which party would control the state Senate. Nor was there an outgoing unelected governor, or unprecedented budget challenges waiting for them after the first of the year.

Under the current conditions, many observers are expecting that the Nov. 29 lame-duck session will live down to expectations. Actually, it might be more akin to a dead-duck session -- given the doubts about having a clear majority of 32 Senate members available to vote on any contentious issues.

There's no talk of legislative pay raises, which would create a firestorm given the current economy; nor have any lawmakers spoken seriously about higher taxes for the rich.

While legalizing medical marijuana came and went as an issue last year, no one is trying to resuscitate it. Nor is their any overt effort to put same-sex marriage up for another vote.

Paterson has said he'd like to get lawmakers to close a current-year budget gap, which ranges between $315 million and $1 billion, in order to create a clean slate for Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo.

But even that doesn't seem urgent, given the $9 billion to $10 billion gap awaiting lawmakers in the next fiscal year and the overall size of the budget -- $135.3 billion for the current year.

While the Senate's Democratic leadership says the full conference will be attend, there are doubts about whether two lame-duck legislators who lost bitter primary races, Buffalo's Bill Stachowski and the Pedro Espada Jr. of the Bronx, will even show up. In a chamber with a current makeup of 32 Democrats and 29 Republicans, that could deny Democrats the ability to overcome a GOP bloc vote.

Neither Stachowski nor Espada returned phone calls Wednesday.

And with Paterson leaving office after December and with the state's pork-barrel funds all but dried up, the governor has little to offer in exchange for items such as the more than 100 nominations that he'd like the Senate to approve.

The biggest draw is more than $1.3 billion in federal education money from the Race to the Top program that lawmakers eventually have to approve. But even that isn't an urgent matter, as some school districts may want to tap the money at a later date.

Paterson spokeswoman Jessica Bassett said the governor would release his agenda for the special session in the next few days.